5 Things That Make Workers Quit

While workers care about money, it's usually not the reason they go looking for a new job.

Wanting to be valued and respected and looking to maintain a healthy work-life balance are the two most common reasons employees decide to move on, according to a new study from BambooHR, a provider of online human resources software.

"Sure, having a salary that is lower than expected is annoying, but according to the study, it doesn't rank as one of the leading irritations," the study's authors wrote. "In fact, slights in compensation become increasingly easier to swallow as employees age."

As part of the study, researchers asked workers to say why they left previous jobs and rate how annoying various aspects of work are on a scale from "acceptable" to "deal breaker." The top 5 deal breakers were:

Your boss doesn't trust/empower you.

You are expected to work/answer emails on sick days, on vacations and/or after work hours.

"Managers play a key role in an employee's workplace satisfaction, as not being trusted/empowered by your boss and taking the blame for management's mistakes are two of the leading employee deal breakers, along with workplace inflexibility and required after-hours work," the study's authors wrote.

The research found that men and women differed in their top reasons for leaving jobs. While men found having to work when sick or on vacation acceptable, women viewed it as more of a deal breaker. Additionally, twice as many women as men considered a lack of flexibility in regards to family responsibilities to be an employment deal breaker.

Age also played in a role in how employees viewed some of their workplace aggravations. The study discovered that workers between the ages of 30 and 44 were disproportionately annoyed by lack of flexibility regarding family responsibilities compared to any other age demographic.

"These people clearly crave flexibility from an employer," the researchers wrote.

The study's authors said the results illustrate that employees aren't in it just for the money.

"They're in it for the experience, the way a job fits into their lifestyle and meets their social needs," the researchers said. "Employers that are aware of, and focus on addressing the issues employees find the most egregious will have a higher chance of succeeding in attracting and retaining valuable employees."

The study was based on surveys of 1,034 U.S. employees over the age of 18.

Chad Brooks is a Chicago-based freelance writer who has nearly 15 years experience in the media business. A graduate of Indiana University, he spent nearly a decade as a staff reporter for the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago, covering a wide array of topics including, local and state government, crime, the legal system and education. Following his years at the newspaper Chad worked in public relations, helping promote small businesses throughout the U.S. Follow him on Twitter.